Web (Mutants and Masterminds Profile)

Hector Cruz was born at Callow’s Field Metro Hospital on December 6th 1973. His parents were hard working immigrants, a Cuban mother who spent her days as a nurse at the hospital he was delivered at, and his father worked the loading docks at a meat packing plant six blocks west of there. Hector was like a lot of kids in Callow’s Field, he kept his head down and stayed out of trouble, but showed a remarkable athleticism.



He turned that athletic talent (with a boxload of training on nights and weekends) into a bright future as an Olympian. After his final performance as a Junior Olympian, he was on his way home with a couple of his friends and one bad thing happened. Bobby caught the first bullet, and died right there in the alley. Chuy got lucky, Hector pushed him out of the line of fire and he just got grazed by a bullet. Hector took two bullets to the spine, cracking his vertebrae He woke up in the hospital with no feeling in his legs.


The prognosis wasn’t good. Full paralysis from his waist down, and what was likely a long road of physical therapy and a lifetime of medication to deal with the pain from the shrapnel in his spine. He was laying in the hospital bed, contemplating his future when the man in the white mask came in. Hector didn’t know what was going on, but he’d heard of the mask, everyone in Callow’s Field had. He was the man who spoke for the Consortium.


The man expressed his sympathies at the situation in front of the young man. He conveyed the sympathy of the entire consortium and handed him two things. One was a shell casing, ostensibly from the bullet that had killed the man who had wounded him. The other was a cell phone number of a researcher who thought she could fix the trauma to his spine. The White Mask also told him not to worry about the medical bills, they were covered by the Consortium.

Hector saw no other option, and called the number. Two days later he was being lowered into a tank full of chemicals and other biomedical goo. He didn’t understand the process, but he signed the consent form and the procedure went forward. His body was suffused with an organic carbon nanotubes that repaired the damage to his spine and reinforced his bones. The nanotubes created an interlinked web of strands that reinforced his bones, his muscles and his organs. More incredibly, he found that he could sling these organic webs as ziplines and swing around the city with them.

Hector became Web, an energetic superhero with a new lease on life. He never made it to the Olympics, but he got a second chance at life through the intervention of a scientist. The Consortium has never bothered him, even after he went and put on a mask. He’s had a literal wall of minor villains, archnemeses, and problems since he gained his powers, but the body of organized criminals leaves him alone.


Hector joined the Society for the Advancement of Sentient Life (and was actually a founding member), but he’s still the kid who grew up in Callow’s Field. He goes to the same church he was baptised in every sunday (barring a national/international emergency). He shops at the same bodega on the corner of his block that he’s been at since he was a kid. He remembers where he came from, and is one of the inspirations for the people of Callow’s Field, a local boy who’s become a true success story.


While Web does have a host of enemies that he’s made over the years, he is still trying to unravel the secrets of the Consortium. White Mask continues to be a recurring interaction, (they are currently on the 6th iteration of White Mask) and he still doesn’t know exactly where White Mask stands. His other significant enemies include Jarnheim, a native of Callow’s Field who’s taken a section of the city as his own and will not let go of it for anything. He so far has yet to expand outside of his tiny neighborhood, but Web is constantly watching to see what happens when he tries.